Phantom upsets paiN on day one of Stake Ranked Episode 3

The opening day of Stake Ranked Episode 3 wrapped up with an unexpected victory as Phantom triumphed over paiN. With Nico "nicoodoz" Tamjidi and Jan "cej0t" Dyl making their debut, Phantom delivered a strong performance, culminating in a 2-1 series win. Notably, the Danish AWPer nicoodoz was instrumental in the victory, securing 14 kills and achieving a +8.23% Round Swing during the decisive Nuke map, where Phantom dominated with a 10-2 score on their Terrorist side.

This defeat marks paiN's second consecutive loss, as they entered the tournament in Barcelona as the highest-ranked team, only to have previously lost to Sharks in the South American qualifier for BLAST Open Porto. Now, paiN finds themselves in the lower bracket of the tournament in Spain, set to battle 3DMAX for survival.

In other matches, HEROIC showcased their new roster, featuring Antonio "MartinezSa" Martinez and Ludvig "Brollan" Brolin. The pair contributed significantly to HEROIC’s convincing victories on Inferno and Nuke, despite the team's setback on Cache against 3DMAX.

Roman "n0te" Hamze led Ninjas in Pyjamas to victory over K27 in a two-map series, while Gentle Mates quickly dispatched Wildcard, even with Joey "CRUC1AL" Steusel stepping in as a stand-in. The next matches, including the upper bracket semi-finals and the first elimination round, are scheduled for Thursday.